Palm tree trimmer



A ril 18, 1950 Filed July 6, 1946 R. C. LUPLOW PALM TREE TRIMMER 2Sheets-$heet 1 IN V EN TOR.

1950 R. c. LUPLOW PALM TREE TRIMMER April 18,

2 SheetsSheet 2 Filed July 6, 1946 INVENTOR. WM m MM Patented Apr. 18,1950 PALM: TREE TRIMMER Ronald. G; har P o ix. Ar a Application. J my 6,1946, Serial No. 681.710:

4 Claimsh tention. perta n an lm. tree H re l ares a .d roads have eenre? movedv om alm ttees b haad qqls T e l bo e mu t often-warn at thetop of a his a d and cutthev fronds loosefrom. the runk by saws ehatchets- Aside-from be n hazardous the sults of such hand: work. at notu fo m a d n many cases damage to the-tree hasrc mted fr m carelesscuttin In view of the foregoing, one of the ob ects s my invention. leprance a machine for cutting leaves from almtreetr nksioperatiye fr mtheem nd 7 othe i etis tamer-id amachine for cutting leaves from. palmtrees whereby an alie a e trimming knif can tie-forced uethe-side o thtrunk to shear leaves. and frondsat their bases andso t heouter surfacecfthe tr nk wi be left, smooth.

A further object. isto. prov de a pow r truck w t a si ularly d ustable,slide frame havin an extens ble. powerdtiven knife. carr ng od on:erative therein, to ether withmeans for ho d thecarrying rod while,additional extensions are placed therein.

Other objects willappear hereinafter.

I attain the fo e o n object by means of t machine and mechanism shown11. he .accorn-g p nyin drawings inrzhithr Figure l is an elevationalview showing the assembled machine in use;

Figure 2, a plan view. of the slide frame and portions of the trucksupporting it;

' Figure 3;, a longitudinal sectional elevation of Said frame;

Figure 4, a transverse section of said frame taken substantially on-line494 of Figure 2;

Figure 5, an elevational view of the front portion of the-kniferod,including the knife;

7 Figure 6, antelevational view. of-the frontend of the truck viewedfrom the interior and drawn on an enlarged scale;

Figure 7, a section of a rod joint drawn on an enlarged scale, and

Figure 8, a section of the knife swivel drawn on an enlarged scale.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts in the several views.

Mobility for the trimmer is provided by the power driven truck 2, whichis of a conventional type and is provided with a power take off 3. Thelower end of elevator slide frame is hinged to the truck frame by shaft5 and normally extends forwardly and upwardly. The outer end issupported by cables I and 8 attached to eye bolts and passing over adrum ;9 .on the truck frame. a The framet is, composed of two parallel,channel bars l0 and II; suitably tied together and braced by crossmembers 12. The upper inwardly extending flanges 14 of, the. channelbars form slide ways for the rod slide 15.. Onthe top. of the rod slidelugs 16 supports rod socket I! by means of a pin bolt l8;

Knife rod 20 is held in socket I1 and extends upward along the top.of'frame 5 overv a concave roller 2! operating between guides. 22, andon to the swivel 23 and yoke ziwhich is hinged trans.- versely to thefrond cutting knife 26. The. knife rod is composed'of sections 21'!joined 'by socket sleeves 28 which receive the lower end of each sectionand are secured by set screws 30. The lower end of each section isprovided with a hook 3| held on a suitable thimble positioned to en.-gage a transverse stop rod 32 slidably operative in lugs 33 attached tothe side channel bars l0 and ll at about the middle of their length.Movement of the rod slide along the frame 5 is attained by a cable iiwhich passes over a pulley 35 at the. outer end (sf-the frame and windsup and pays out on a, winch drum '31, positioned on the truck frame.Guide sheaves 38 control the position of the cableasit. passes from theframe to the drumv 3.1.

Both cable drums s, and 3;! are operated from the truck power takeoff 3thru conventional gear and clutch mechanisms .40 andM. Brakes 42 and 43are povided to hold the respective drums in position after movement. Theknife 26 is made of an arcuate steel blade sharpened along the top edge50 and supported by pins 5| which extend transversely thru the arm endsof yoke 25. This means of support allows the knife to adapt its innerface to slide parallel with and upon the surface of the tree trunk. Theshank of the yoke is provided with a swivel joint 23 to receive theupper end of the first rod section 21. This enables the knife to swivelon the knife rod so that it may be operated parallel to the axis of thetree with the blade substantially at right angles to said axis even thothe truck is positioned on uneven ground and the knife rod is notexactly alined with the tree.

The device operates on the principle that the knife will shave the leaffronds from the tree trunk 6! if sufficient power is applied to theknife vertically and toward the tree trunk to cause it to cut into thefronds at their bases, and then follow thru until the frond iscompletely severed. To do this the truck 2 is driven to a positionadjacent a tree as shown in Figure 1.

The knife rod with knife in position is then brought to bear on the treetrunk and forced upwardly by operation of the slide l5. As fronds, orfrond stumps are cut loose the truck may be driven nearer to the treebase to extend the height of cut, but if this is not suflicient, theslide is moved slightly beyond lugs 33 and the knife rod held by theoperation of transverse stop rod 32 which is moved across the frame fromthe positionshown in Figure 2, and engages a hook 3| on the nextouterrod section 21. The socket set screw is then loosened, slide I 5 loweredand a new rod section inserted into socket I1 and joined to the lowerend of the rod held by the stop. The slide is then again operatedoutwardly and inwardly causing the knife 26 to slide up and down thetree trunk Bl. After cutting on one side of the tree the truck is movedto other positions around the tree and the operation repeated until allundesired fronds or frond stumps have been severed and shaved off.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the truck 2 forms a mobilesupport for the angularly and upwardly extending slide way frame 5 whichis pivotally supported so the angle of extension may be varied. Thearcuate knife 26 is supported on the extensible knife rod 20 so that itis given an up and down shaving mo ion by the mechanism on the truck.This may either be from the powertake-oif 3 from the truck engine, orfrom an independent power source. The knife is supported on the rod 29so as to adjust itself to move vertically along the surface of the trunkof the tree. Obviously this device is intended for use only on palmtrees of the kind specified. However its exact structure as shown issubjected to wide variation and the component parts may be modifiedconsiderably and yet remain within the spirit of the invention.Therefore, I wish to be limited only by the following claims.

- I claim:

1. In a palm tree trimmer including a power driven truck, a slide waypivotally mounted on the. front end thereof, and adjustably secured atan upward and outward angle, a knife rod slide operable therealong,power driven means for operating saidknife rod slide along said slideway, a hinged socket carried on said slide adapted to carry a kniferod,',a knife rod having joints includin stop hooks, a transverse 'stoprod op- .erable on said slide way to engage joint hooks of said rod, thecombination therewith of an arcuate trimming knife pivotally supportedby transverse pins at the outer end of said knife rod.

2. In a palm tree trimmer comprising, a power driven truck having apower take-off, an outwardly and upwardly extending slide way framemounted on said truck by a transverse shaft, having a rod roller'andguide at its outer end tive by said slide along said slide way, said rodjoints having hooks cooperative with said stop rodto holdthe outer endof said knife rod; the

combination therewith of an arcuate trimming knife mounted ontransversehinge joints at the outer end of said knife rod and adapted to axialswivel movement thereon.

3. In a palm tree trimmer, as herein disclosed. a trimming knifeformed'as a rectangular piece of steel having an arcuate plan, a cuttingedge along the top edge and supporting lugs on each side of the convexsurface at about the middle of its height adapted to receive transversepins, in combination with a knife support including a fork having thetines slotted to engage said lugs and a shank adapted to receive a kniferod and be retained thereon in rotatable relation thereto.

4. In a palm tree trimmer, as herein disclosed, a trimming knife formedfrom a rectangular piece of steel having an arcuate plan, a cutting edgealong the top edge'and supporting lugs on each side of the convexsurface at about the middle of its height adapted to receive transversepins, in combination with a knife support including a fork having thetines slotted to engage said lugs and a shank adapted to receive a kniferod and be retained thereon in rotatable relation thereto, a jointedknife driving and supported rod, and power driven mechanism foroperating said rod angularly to the tree.

RONALD C. LUPLOW.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date -1,318,324 Keon Oct. 7, 19191,558,735 McArthur Oct. 27, 1925 1,602,357 Georgelis Oct. 5, 19262,482,392 Whitaker Sept. 20, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date722,254 I France Dec. 28, 1931 96,272 Sweden July 18, 1939

